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Remembering When Fatigue Set in for The Rolling Stones on ‘Goats Head Soup’ in 1973
This retrospective from American Songwriter revisits the Rolling Stones' 1973 album Goats Head Soup, which followed an extraordinary run of four acclaimed records — Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. — and marked the point at which the band's creative momentum began to slow. It matters as a piece of music history because it explains how even one of rock's most celebrated bands inevitably came down from a remarkable peak, with tax exile, heavy drug use and a reliance on session musicians all contributing to a less inspired record.
The album was recorded in various locations, including Jamaica, with bassist Bill Wyman absent from all but three tracks, yet it still topped album charts in several countries including the US, powered by the number one single "Angie" and the funk-tinged "Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)". Despite this commercial success, many of the album's other tracks, such as "Can You Hear the Music", were seen as lacklustre, and the piece argues that a post-Exile "what do we do now" malaise affected the band's output until 1978's Some Girls reinvigorated them.
In short
- Goats Head Soup (1973) followed the Stones' incredible four-album creative peak.
- Drug use, guest musicians and touring fatigue sapped the album's inspiration.
- It still hit No.1 via "Angie", but signalled a mid-70s creative dip.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The observation that Goats Head Soup marked the beginning of the Rolling Stones' creative decline is well-supported by the album's uneven quality following four consecutive masterpieces. The band's fragmentation—with key bassist Bill Wyman absent, members separated by tax exile, and increasing reliance on session musicians—created a fractured creative environment evident in the inconsistent songwriting. Whilst commercially successful, many tracks lacked the compositional depth and arrangement sophistication of their earlier period, justifying the critical assessment that the band entered a creative trough until their later reinvigoration.
The case against
Labelling Goats Head Soup a creative decline underestimates a commercially successful album that still produced chart-topping singles and demonstrated the Stones' continued appeal. Expecting any band to maintain the extraordinary intensity of their Exile on Main St. period indefinitely sets an impossible standard; natural artistic variation is inevitable and reasonable. The album achieved genuine commercial and critical success despite substantial external pressures, and deserves appreciation for maintaining the band's commercial vitality and musical competence during a challenging period rather than dismissal through comparison to an earlier peak.
Explained simply
The Rolling Stones released Goats Head Soup in 1973, following an extraordinary run of four critically acclaimed albums released between 1968 and 1972. Those earlier records had established the band as one of rock music's most celebrated acts.
The 1973 album achieved significant commercial success, topping charts in several countries including the United States, driven by popular tracks such as the hit single "Angie". However, it also contained songs that many found less engaging than the band's earlier work, suggesting their creative energy had begun to diminish.
The album marks an important moment in music history, demonstrating how even the world's greatest bands experience creative peaks and valleys. Various factors, including tax exile, substance abuse and reliance on session musicians, contributed to this shift, and the band would not fully regain their creative momentum until the late 1970s.
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